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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 5, 2013Sylvia HatchellSYLVIA HATCHELL: First of all, I want to give a shout‑out to Greensboro, to the Sports Council, the ACC and all because I guess I'm probably the senior coach now that's been around and been to the ACC tournament more than any of the others. I just appreciate so much the effort they give because I was in the tournament when we were in Fayetteville and then Rock Hill and Charlotte and now in Greensboro, and they just do such a fabulous job. I don't want those people to think that we don't appreciate them because without a doubt we have the best tournament in the country. The ACC just‑‑ they just bend over backwards to make it the very best. Greensboro Sports Council, Coliseum, I just can't say enough great things. I know all the other coaches feel the same way I do about it. I just wanted to make sure that I said that before I started talking about our team. But we're, again, excited to go over and play. We're excited to have a bye because it's really hard to win a championship and play four games in a row, which we've been in that situation and actually got to the championship game but just run out of gas a couple years ago. But anyway, we've had a good year so far. I think a lot of people when you look at our team, you think, well, how are they 26 and 5, you know, and we're pretty balanced because at the beginning of the year we had no one on the preseason all‑ACC team. I mean, you didn't see a name listed with North Carolina anywhere. So these kids have really worked hard, and we are very balanced. I say this‑‑ I'm not saying this to be critical, but I'm just saying the balance of our team is the fact that we've had I guess 16, 17 weeks of ACC Players of the Week, and we haven't had anybody yet. I think that, again, just shows the balance of our team. Our seniors have done a great job. Tierra Ruffin‑Pratt is not really a point guard but we've played her at point guard and she's accepted that role and just done a fabulous job for us, and I'm just so proud of her because this is the first time she's been healthy since she's been here at UNC. Krista Gross is an unsung hero for us because she doesn't get a lot of credit but she's just a workhorse that does a lot for us and helps us win. And Waltiea Rolle, another senior, her presence in there makes such a difference, and her best is yet to come. So those three seniors have done an outstanding job in leading our team. Then Xylina McDaniel is an outstanding freshman that's played really well for us. I love our bench. Our bench gives us great energy, Danielle Butts, Latifah Coleman, those kids go in there, Megan Buckland, and just give us a lot of energy. They score a lot of points for us, and again, like I said, all this is a sign of the balance that we have. These kids have just competed hard throughout the season, and that's why I think when you look at our team, again, you think, well, how have they won all these games. But this is one of my favorite teams I've ever had. They're just great, great kids, and we're looking forward to the opportunities the rest of the season to compete and to be there this weekend in Greensboro for the ACC tournament. Q. Having watched your team throughout the season and progression, it seemed that your non‑conference schedule early on really put your team to the test early, and it seemed that you had kind of‑‑ can you say whether you set that up intentionally, especially coming off of last year's tournament finish to kind of make a statement or to challenge your team and how that's paid off for you guys progressing through the season? SYLVIA HATCHELL: Well, our non‑conference schedule was actually done before the tournament last year, so no, we didn't set that up after. But we had a real good non‑conference schedule. We won the preseason WNIT, and Tierra Ruffin‑Pratt got the MVP of that. We beat some really good teams in that tournament that have proven to be really good throughout this season. And then the Big Ten‑ACC Challenge was a great game for us. So we've played a lot of good teams, and they did prepare us well for the ACC. But again, we've had a lot of close games that we've been able to pull out, and I think that shows a lot of the grit that these kids have. Q. You talked about the depth that you've been playing with with the players you identified. Depending on how the games go or the challenge, do you expect to go a little deeper and could Erika Johnson or N'Dea Bryant see any playing time if need be considering you have three seniors moving on and giving those youngsters some playing time in the tournament? SYLVIA HATCHELL: Well, yeah, I play a lot of kids. We've been playing eight or nine deep. But N'Dea and Erika, they can get playing time. Both of them are great athletes and have already given us some good minutes when we've needed it this year. Again, any time at the end of the game you look at the stat sheet and it says bench points, we usually have quite a few points that our bench contribute. Danielle Butts is such a tremendous athlete, she and Latifah, they go in there and give us tremendous energy because of their athleticism, and really helps us get our defense revved up and playing at an even higher level. But hey, I trust them all. They're all great kids. I'd put them in there in the heat of the battle any time. Q. For a team to have the kind of record you do, a lot of things have to go right. What have been the biggest positive surprises for you about the season? SYLVIA HATCHELL: Well, first of all, we've stayed pretty healthy overall, which is always a big key and everything. But also the kids have really bought into their roles. Like I mentioned earlier, Tierra Ruffin‑Pratt has always been a 2 guard, and we asked her to take on the responsibilities of being point guard this year, and she has embellished those responsibilities and done a great, great job. We've had several games down to the wire where she either got a big steal or made a couple big baskets, so she's really‑‑ and not just her but all the players on our team. They have welcomed, and like I said, embellished the roles that we've asked them and the characteristics that we wanted this team to have being a blue collar team, just working hard and all. So they've really bought into that, and I think that's been a really big key there. The motivation of getting‑‑ finishing one of the top teams in the conference and everything. This has just been‑‑ in coaching, it's not all about wins and losses but just the fact that the kids are so coachable and they listen, they do what you tell them to do, and they experience success because of that. This has been one of my best years because these kids really, really are coachable and they listen and they do what we ask them to do, and we've had tremendous results from that. Q. What's better for the ACC's image to outsiders, getting as many teams as possible into the NCAA Tournament, or is it get being one great team to the Final Four? SYLVIA HATCHELL: Well, I listened to you ask the other coaches that, so I've actually thought about it a little bit because we've been in a situation in the Final Four, one year three of the four teams were ACC, us and Duke and Maryland. Of course that was great. But also I think spreading it out, getting a lot of teams in there is really, really good for the conference. It shows the strength of the conference and all. But also I think another thing here that maybe you haven't mentioned at all is how we do out of conference. I think the ACC does extremely well out of conference. All the teams play the best teams, we compete hard. When you look at how we do against other conferences, there's no doubt that the ACC‑‑ we should have never no less than five teams in the tournament and probably six or seven. Looking at some of the other conferences, they're predicting them to have seven and eight or nine teams in there, and I'm thinking, hey, the ACC, we should have‑‑ I really feel like we should have six or seven this year in there because of just the balance and the strength of the conference. But we do really well out of conference. Any time you get a team in the Final Four, that always brings a lot of recognition because a lot of people watch that that don't watch during the year. So I think they all bring something to the table that‑‑ like I said, the year we had three of the four teams in the championship, or in the Final Four, yeah, that was pretty special. Q. You mentioned Krista Gross is kind of an unsung hero. She's in the top five in the conference in rebounds. What makes her such an effective rebounder do you think? SYLVIA HATCHELL: Well, Krista is just a tough kid. She's smart. I mean, I call her the Eveready Bunny because the kid has played with a broke nose a couple times‑‑ you just can't keep her out, I mean, at practice. The trainers say, well, Krista, we don't want you to do this or this or this, and I mean, it's just‑‑ you can't keep her out of there. The kid just has a tremendous work ethic, and that's why she's going to be a great doctor one day. She'll be going to medical school probably within the next year or two. But that's just the mentality she has. She gets in there, she loves to compete, she loves the physical contact. She's not a great athlete, but she gets in there and gets position and blocks out and just‑‑ I mean, she's one of the hardest working kids that we've ever had here. And for her, she loves to get the stat sheet and look at her rebounds, her dives on the floor, her deflections, which we grade all this stuff, her deflections, her passes to the post, different things like that, that just normally don't show up other places. She, again‑‑ it's just that tremendous work ethic that she has. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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